Beyond the Roundels

I made this post mostly in February and prefaced it with: "Belated, and I'm still not through reading the collection yet, but a bunch so far. It's only, what, February? /o\" I must report, I am still not through reading the collection and likely never will be, but I should post this so other people can read the gems I have enjoyed (so far?) anyway:

( Recs in Adventure Series, A Civil Contract, Craddock & Co, Death in Paradise, The Detectorists, The Devil's Cub, Drop the Dead Donkey, Emma, Enemy at the Door, Ghosts (US), The Good Place, The Holiday, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, The Mabinogion, McDonald & Dodds, No Wind of Blame, North and South, The Winslow Boy, Welcome to Our Village Please Invade Carefully )

As I said, I sort of stopped updating properly for a bit. Just the usual low patch, but I navigated last month's better in terms of posting than this month's.

1. I did manage to do three Fannish ficlets for no_true_pair and still have some rainbowfic ones I'll post for their amnesty, so that is quite good. Although I was quite blurry, I'm not sure how they turned out, really.


2. unconventionalcourtship is back! Time to pick a terrible romance novel and kill it with fanfiction or whatever your preferred approach is. As ever, you can ask the brilliant Unconventional Courtship Generator for ideas if you don't want to personally wade through Mills & Boon's back catalogue.


3. genprompt_bingo is open for a new round!


4. I don't know what is happening with this year, but I received a NYR gift from edwardianspinsteraunt for The Winslow Boy! It is amazing! I need to go comment properly, and will soon, but spent all day finishing off doing the 100 list thingies going around (see point 5.)

At the Threshold (5149 words) by edwardianspinsteraunt
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Winslow Boy (1999)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow
Characters: Robert Morton (Winslow Boy), Catherine Winslow, Desmond Curry
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Kissing, Vulnerability, questionable decisions, Confessions (of various sorts), semi-resolved sexual tension, Angst with a Happy Ending, past Catherine Winslow/John Watherstone
Summary: Catherine learns earlier of Sir Robert's sacrifice - a discovery that has surprising results.


5. I've been doing the tumblr-moved-to-Dreamwidth top 100 personal favourite/foundational movies list, plus, because I picked it up from lirazel (who I think was the one that added the other two categories), also 100 TV series, which took the longest. In the meantime, while it moved round my flist, it became solely a book list meme instead, because I suppose that is tumblr vs Dreamwidth for you, lol.

I'm not entirely surely fiddling with things for a week has made my lists any less weird. (You have to bear in mind that my most influential/favourite things, like everyone, tend to be from when I was growing up/younger but then also I have spent the last 15 years having appalling trouble trying to just read or watch anything and at least 5 or so years of that time solving that problem by watching slow-paced Brit TV, some of which was genuinely awesome and then the loss of DVDs for the past 3-5 years has completely scotched any means I had of watching anything not on terrestrial UK TV or the iPlayer. But it does make my list look like it was made by someone whose next words will be muttering about isn't modern stuff too Ruined By The Woke, which is very distressing to me, but that's why. I might mutter that people should write TV episodes like they're one act plays again instead of a soap opera installment and that it honestly doesn't have to cost THAT much to be good, but that's as far as it goes re. the worst effects of all the beige tv on my brain, I promise. It was excellent beige TV! And the bits that weren't, I was looking at James Maxwell's nose or Alfie's face or Suzanne Neve's awesome anyway. And the reading has been even worse, except the few books that worked could at least be from any era, because so far they haven't changed how that works. BUt, still, they had to be old enough to be chanced upon in charity shops so...)

If you want distractions of clicking things and telling me that you also watched/read about 10 of these, here is the film list, the TV List (much beige TV included some of which I had to add manually) and the books list.

No doubt I have forgotten obvious things and would probably make different lists again next week, but I had fun. It had some of the most obscure books and films on it, it just had issues with the TV sometimes.

An icon batch I was waiting to post until I'd done the latest retro_icontest challenge, and then nearly forgot about! Most of these have probably been posted here before, although not the retro_icontest The7Days challenge to icon seven different angles from the last seven things you watched. The angles were above, below, left, right, back, front, artist's choice. Plus, all the icons I made recently to complete 100fandomicons and retro_icontest's Island Rumble round, making icons from the same two screencaps & some alts.


Preview



( Rest under here )

My entries for the latest retro_icontest challenge - to make a set of 8 icons from 2 caps. This was so challenging and fun I had to try it twice, so I'm posting this here rather than direct to the comm, as it's probably a bit large for that now.

Preview



( What sacrifices you young ladies seem prepared to make for your convictions )

I started this on 27th Feb 2021 for 100fandomicons and have finally completed it, after taking longer than anybody else ever has, which I suppose is one claim to fame. (You can see the fandoms if you hover over the icons.)

( 100fandoms table under here )

Hello, I have been out, I am now not fully with it again, but in the meantime, have a post I made earlier when I couldn't actually post it!

---

This isn't a proper transcript, because I'm not up to that and would have killed my brain, but I know sovay wanted to know if David Mamet said anything about the doors and possibly other things about it, so when I rewatched/relistened to The Winslow Boy as Yule-prep, I took notes and transcribed some exchanges as best as I could. I tried to be careful, but sometimes before I have still been really unreliable when doing this kind of thing, so I apologise if anything is incorrect!

The commentary has David Mamet, Rebecca Pidgeon, Nigel Hawthorne & Jeremy Northam (& it sounds as if they invited Gemma Jones as one of the first things JN says when he & NH join in after about 10 mins is that he's sorry Gemma couldn't make the journey to join them.) I'm not sure how it got the miracle of a proper cast commentary, but I'm so glad, even aside from it improving my fic.

Also, if Robert/Catherine has one shipper, it's Jeremy Northam. In this commentary he will... ;-p)


I should say straight up that David Mamet does not explain the doors motif as such, but he and various others say at several points that he was set on having all the important family scenes in hallways. Alas, nobody goes into why, which is atypical for this commentary, but that is the penalty of the chat-based format.

( Notes from the Winslow Boy Commentary )

Thank you again to both edwardianspinsteraunt and WyvernQuill, who between them wrote my three amazing gifts! \o/ (I have read them now, and they were indeed just as wonderful as they looked.)

I haven't read more than halfway through the collection on mere first pickings, though, because while I have two things in the collection, I very nearly made it to three but failed on Christmas Eve, and spent the little energy of that kind I had trying to fix the third all week. It was at that sort of stage to drive me wild not to be able to do so. Anyway, for better or for worse, it is posted now, and I'll link to it here separately later, but it was for The Winslow Boy, for edwardianspinsteraunt.


I was assigned The Shadow of the Tower (!!) for misura, who had once written me a Madness treat for this canon and the same characters (Henry VII & John de la Pole Earl of Lincoln) which I have treasured ever since, so I was pretty delighted to be able to return the favour. I had this idea pretty much straight away, although it took a while to work out and be well enough to type up. I worried a bit over the ending (involving a slightly different take on a canonical death) and kept checking their DNWs (and each time, no, they still had not DNWed death, heh) and am so relieved that not only did they leave me a lovely comment before I even got to the collection on the 25th, but they absolutely got what I was going for in that section.

And thanks to persiflage_1 for the beta, as ever!

that strange unmerciful tyrant (2256 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Shadow of the Tower
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Henry VII of England & John de la Pole Earl of Lincoln, Henry VII of England/John de la Pole Earl of Lincoln
Characters: Henry VII of England, John de la Pole Earl of Lincoln
Additional Tags: Battle of Stoke, 15th Century, Loyalty, Rebellion, Trust Issues, Dreams, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, (that goes slightly differently), Episode: e04 The Crowning of Apes
Summary: John of Lincoln knows what he wants - the throne of England. His heart might have other ideas.


I also wanted to write some treats if I had time, maybe some ficlets for Madness, as there were a few requests I eyed up, especially The Winslow Boy (which along with the SotT request, was the other thing I'd have been most happy to get assigned to), and The Time Master trilogy maybe, or The Net (1995).


I did write TWB, but typed it up second - I knew if I didn't attempt The Net treat now I never would, while I was clearly going to write something for TWB sooner or later now. Anyway, so even though the very morning I typed it up I had decided that I simply couldn't do it, somehow nevertheless I wrote the first Jack/Angela fic for unhindered_dreams because the foe!yay needed to exist, and apparently I had to write it myself, dammit. ;-p

(Some of their other prompts were so funny, too, though. I think "Canon, but soulmates" made me laugh the hardest, because I'm not into soulmates as a rule, but "worst possible soulmate except yes actually in some ways they genuinely are" is amazing. As was "following your boyfriend's trail of dead bodies" even if canon is more "you can tell your boyfriend is following you because there's a trail of dead bodies behind you.")


it's the end of the world as we know it (4805 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Net (1995)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Angela Bennett/Jack Devlin (The Net 1995)
Characters: Angela Bennett (The Net 1995), Jack Devlin (The Net 1995)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies, Dubious Consent, Mild Gore, Foe Yay, Enemies, enemies with benefits maybe?, Apocalypse, Swearing
Summary: The end of days happens while Jack and Angela are out at sea. Things go differently.

With many thanks to sovay for the beta and US pick!

(The irony of me and Zombie Apocalypse fic is that I don't like really like zombie things, but somehow I like writing Zombie Apocalypse AUs a lot anyway, even if they usually feature more biscuits and team bonding than zombies, so this was comparatively zombie-heavy for me, but that's not saying much, lol.)


The one downside of my plans, other than not quite making it and exhausting myself at the same time (but what else is new) was that, due to foolishly writing treats that involved two different fictional Jeremy Northams, while waiting for Treat #1, I was, oh, maybe I could start on Treat #2 and then my brain for one moment tried to put Jack Devlin and Sir Robert Morton in the same place and broke into distressed pieces, so I took the wiser course of having a rest instead.

Thank you for writing for me! This letter is bound to be long, so tl;dr: I love all kinds of different things at different times, I love these fandoms and characters, and I'm sure to enjoy whatever you come up with.

Any prompts are intended purely for inspiration, not to restrict your choices. Take what's useful and leave what isn't. I hope you have a lovely Yuletide.

( Fandoms: Craddock and Co, Indigo Saga - Louise Cooper, Welcome to Our Village Please Invade Carefully, Winslow Boy (1999) & Wish Me Luck )

sovay asked me some more film meme questions when I complained about the questions in the other film meme making me talk about my A-Level film watching. I have managed to post my answers to these in less than a month after being asked them, so go me. And thank you sovay! <3

1. A film you watched for a favorite actor (of any gender) which you would not have sought out otherwise?

I wasn't really watching film for a long while, because I couldn't, so only my faves forced me back to it, and made it possible again, so it would be true to say nearly everything I've watched since about 2011. But here is one for each of my faves that have sufficient films in their cv to make it worth nominating one:

a. Dean Spanley (2008), because it's so obscure, and even if I'd stumbled over it in some other context, the very quality of the cast would only have been a warning sign, because it'd have to be terrible to still not ever have pinged my radar, or, afaict, anyone else's that I knew. But the Jeremy Northam tumblrs were enthusiastic, as were the 2-3 others who had actually seen it, so I sought it out, and I'm so glad I was finally able to snag a DVD because they were right - it's an oddity, but it's also a gem.

b. Girl On Approval (1962), which is a lesser New Wave/Kitchen Sink installment that starred Rachel Roberts with my man James Maxwell in the supporting role as her husband. I have a fascination with New Wave, brought on my Media Studies tutor who haunted the other post - we watched Look Back In Anger, Man at the Top & Saturday Night, Sunday Morning (& I also, long before, watched half of A Taste of Honey in my first year at secondary school. Only half was because that was when I first had ME/CFS). This gave me a deep, enduring and entirely grudging fascination with this brand of TV/Film, but also an appreciation of Rachel Roberts, who is amazing.

This is written by a female writer, about two main female characters, and it was the first UK attempt at a realistic film about fostering/social care etc, and I find it fascinating and well done, and worth a look if you have a similar interest in these kinds of films, social history of the era, or Rachel Roberts. (I can also attest it is well worth it for some of the earliest surviving non-fake-hair-assaulted James Maxwell, even if he is not in Rachel Roberts's league.)

c. If I had ever looked at The Lady Vanishes (1938) properly, I would no doubt have always have been taken with the summary, but I'd not got on with old films before then, so it was only watching Margaret Lockwood in 1970s TV, loving her in that and looking her up, that made me actually try it. It was a complete delight, and I've really enjoyed trying lots of 1930s & early 40s films I've watched off the back of that since, whether with or without Margaret Lockwood. I've still got a mixed track record with all-time Hollywood classics, but at least I know there are some things out there I do like!


2. A film you wish had been made with one of your favorites?

I'm not sure whether this is a role swap - this film would have been better with James Maxwell in it! - or a non-existent film they should have made with a favourite actor. I shall answer with something that is simultaneously both, in a way.

BBC Radio's 1991 'Christmas at the Wells' season of Victorian plays was great, but of all radio things I've listened to, the one that most made me pine for a live-action version was their London Assurance with Jeremy Northam as Dazzle. Someone should instantly have grabbed all the cast that could reprise their roles in visual format, or at least Jeremy Northam, and made them do it in a film, or a one-off TV thing. There is no film version of London Assurance, so it'd have been a general service to humanity anyway. I need to relisten to this, because I was new to it, but Dazzle wanders through it, idly bluffing and obliviously causing plot to ensue for everyone else, and I really really wanted to see him. It's set in the 18th C, so there would also have been excellent costumes. I am glad we had the radio, though.

(I loved The Schoolmistress even more but while I would enjoy a live-action version of that, too, it couldn't have Jeremy Northam as he was too old to play a 17 yr old even in 1991, except on radio, lol. Besides, it worked perfectly in that format, so I can just relisten to it anytime I wanted and be quite happy. Although it's such fun, someone should give it a go sometime. The world is always in need of an extra cheerful thing.)


3. A film it surprises people that you love?

See my below answer about me maybe not being the person to judge this - I feel most films I love are obviously films I would love, but then I would. I suppose, to go back to my previous film meme post, people are understandably surprised when I tell them that Schindler's List is probably my favourite film. (I prevaricate unless I feel like explaining my whole totalitarian regimes history story yet again, which I don't always.)

People do get surprised sometimes about that anybody likes the Star Wars Prequel trilogy best, I suppose; and I do! (I'm not alone by any means. ;-p)


4. A film you feel it should be completely obvious that you love?

All my films I love seem pretty obvious choices - to me, at least! But I read the description of The Lady Vanishes (1938) and went "that sounds like almost everything I like in one film" and it really was. The Winslow Boy (1999) was so obviously catered to me that I've been nearly watching it for years and it was first on my list of Jeremy Northam films to get, even if dodgy DVDs delayed it. Gosford Park was super-inevitable in so many ways. Watching The Mummy (1999) in a cinema in Aberystwyth (with wet feet, because I forgot you don't mess with the sea in Aber) was insta-love for multiple reasons, chief of which was A Librarian Heroine. *heart eyes*

idk, all my likes seem painfully obvious to me, but no doubt I'm more inexplicable to other people. Well. Occasionally, perhaps?

Have YOU been shocked by me liking a film??? Do I need to explain myself? I expect I will be very happy to do so.


5. A film you wish had been a television show?

A lot of book adaptations really need a TV serial format to do the book justice. I've been blanking on a particular example for 2-3 weeks now, though. But it'll definitely be some frustratingly over-lite classic lit book adaptation that missed something vital. I think lots of us round here know that feeling!